Role of Public Authorities & Competent Authorities in Implementation of RTI Act

 

Article

 

Role of Public Authorities & Competent Authorities in Implementation of RTI Act

 

The Right to Information Act, 2005 lays down obligatory functions to be performed by various authorities including the Public Authorities & Competent Authorities. These are discussed hereunder: 

Public Authorities: The term Public Authority has been defined in section 2(h) of the Act which is as under: 

“Public Authority means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted- 

a)    by or under the Constitution;

b)    by any other law made by Parliament;

c)    by any other law made by State Legislature;

d)    by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government.

 It includes any:

                     i)  body owned, controlled or substantially financed;

                    ii)  non-Government organization substantially financed,

directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government.

 The Public Authorities have to perform the following statutory functions: 

Designation of Public Information Officers and Assistant Public Information Officers: The public authorities are required to designate Central/ State Assistant Public Information Officers and Central/ State Public Information Officers as per section 5. The Public Information Officers are the pivotal officers who have to perform a quasi-judicial function in the disposal of the RTI requests, in a time bound manner.  These officers are accountable for their due performance and in case of delay or wrongfully denial of information can be penalised under the Act. The role & responsibility of Public Information Officers under RTI Act, 2005 has been discussed in a separate Article.

The Assistant Public Information Officers serve as an important link to receive RTI applications and appeals on behalf of the public authorities and the Appellate Authorities. They have to forward these applications and appeals to the concerned quarters within five days under intimation to the applicant/appellant. The role & responsibility of Assistant Public Information Officers under RTI Act, 2005 has been discussed in a separate Article.

Designation of first Appellate Authority: Likewise, the public authorities have to designate the first Appellate Authorities to attend to the first appeal within the organisation, in pursuance of section 19 of the Act. These Appellate Authorities have to dispose of the first appeal within 30-45 days. The role & responsibility of first Appellate Authority under RTI Act, 2005 has been discussed in a separate Article. 

In case any of the public authorities fails to comply with the provisions to designate the above officers a complaint can be filed with the Central/State Information Commission. The concerned Information Commission shall issue necessary directions to comply with the law, in a time bound manner. 

Designation of Link Officers:  The public authorities should also ensure that a link officer is designated for each of the Assistant Public Information Officers & Public Information Officers and the first Appellate Authority so that in the event of non-availability of the concerned functionary the link officer automatically takes over the RTI work. 

Systematic Record Keeping & Computerization: Maintenance of records in a systematic way not only helps the staff in proper upkeep and retrieval of records but also facilitates in quick disposal of requests. The Act makes the following mandatory provisions for compliance by the public authorities. 

Maintenance of Records: The Act provides that every public authority shall maintain all its records in a systematic way. The records should be duly catalogued and indexed. The record management system should facilitate the right to information. [Section 4(1)(a)] 

Proper maintenance of records can be ensured by weeding out the unwanted records as per record retention schedules meant for the purpose. It is suggested that each public authority should implement the Public Records Act, 1993 and prepare its record retention schedules, if already not there. All unwanted records should be weeded out and the remaining records should be kept systematically to facilitate quick retrieval and replacement. 

Computerization of records: With the advent of computerization it has become easy to dispose of cases and maintain records in digital form. It facilitates quicker decision making with least efforts and costs. A specific provision has been made requiring all public authorities to computerize records in a reasonable period as under: 

“Every public authority should ensure that all records that are appropriate are computerized, within a reasonable time, and subject to availability of resources. These should be computerized and connected through a network all over the country on different systems so that access to such records gets facilitated. [Section 4(1)(a)]” 

Providing suo motu information: Most of the public authorities have placed lot of information in public domain in the form of 17 manuals in pursuance of section 4(1)(b) of the Act.  But a lot more needs to be done to place much more information on the website so that the citizens can get the same free of cost without making any formal application. 

The other sub sections of section 4 also need to be fully complied with. The websites need to be updated from time to time.                                                                                             

Allow access to information: Section 8(2) provides – “Notwithstanding anything in the Official Secrets Act, 1923 nor any of the exemptions permissible in accordance with sub-section (1), a public authority may allow access to information, if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interests. 

Dissemination of accurate information: The public authorities should disseminate accurate information about the activities performed by them. These should be available to the public well in time. The appropriate government should promote timely and effective dissemination of accurate information by public authorities about their activities. [Section 26(1)(c)]. 

Role of Competent Authority: The act lays down some obligatory functions upon the Competent Authorities too. The term Competent Authority has been defined in section 2(e) of the Act which is as under: 

 “competent authority” means-

(i)   the Speaker in the case of the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of a State or a Union territory having such Assembly and the Chairman in the case of the Council of States or a Legislative Council of a State;

(ii)  the Chief Justice of India in the case of the Supreme Court;

(iii) the Chief Justice of the High Court in the case of a High Court;

(iv) the President or the Governor, as the case may be, in the case of other authorities established or constituted by or under the Constitution;

(v)  the administrator appointed under article 239 of the Constitution;


Competent Authority:

The Competent Authorities have to perform statutory functions which are as under: 

Allow information under exempted section 8(1)(d) & (e) where required: The Competent Authority has been given discretion to allow supply of information under the exempted section 8(1)(d) and (e) if he is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of information. All such cases need to be submitted to them for their directions.

Power to make Rules: The Competent Authorities have been empowered to make rules with regard to fixation of fee for various purposes. They have also been vested with wide power to make rules for any other matter, which may be necessary. The Competent Authority may, make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act. [Section 28(1)] 

The rules may be framed for the following matters, namely:- 

    (i)        the cost of the medium or print cost price of the materials to be disseminated under sub-section (4) of section 4;

  (ii)        the fee payable under sub-section (1) of section 6;

 (iii)        the fee payable under sub-section (1) of section 7; and

 (iv)        any other matter which is required to be, or may be, prescribed. [Section 28(2)]

 


FAQs

Q.1.     Can public authority impose penalty on Public Information Officer?

Ans.1 No. It can be imposed by the concerned Information Commission.

Q.2.     Can the public authorities change the Public Information Officers?

Ans.2. Yes. But frequent changes affect their functioning. 

Location: India

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